Abstract
ABSTRACT The simultaneous occurrence of high levels of exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and alkalinity in soils imposes restrictions on plant development and affects physical properties such as porosity, bulk density, permeability, and hydraulic conductivity. Although sodic soils are frequent in the flood plain of the Sao Lourenco River, northern Pantanal, Brazil, few studies focus on their formation and classification, especially with regard to specific processes and detailed classification into lower categorical levels by the different systems available. The aim of [...]
Highlights
A high exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in the soil is generally associated with a semi-arid climate due to higher rates of evapotranspiration than rainfall, which decrease the leaching of Na+, one of the chemical elements with greater soil mobility (Sumner and Naidu, 1998; Oliveira et al, 2009)
Sodic soils of the northern Pantanal, formed in past hydropedological conditions, are currently subjected to clay eluviation/illuviation, ferrolysis, and leaching processes, though the last process mentioned is attenuated by the strong textural gradient
The younger sodic soils in the region studied were classified as Luvissolos and, as the transformation process advances, depletion of iron oxides increases, along with clay eluviation, resulting in Planossolos
Summary
A high exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in the soil is generally associated with a semi-arid climate due to higher rates of evapotranspiration than rainfall, which decrease the leaching of Na+, one of the chemical elements with greater soil mobility (Sumner and Naidu, 1998; Oliveira et al, 2009). Soils with these properties have limitations in plant development, since this ion competes with Ca2+ and Mg2+ for plant uptake. The importance of sodic soils in the Pantanal extrapolates their expression in terms of area, for they play an important role in the ecology of the region, which may include intentional consumption by some wild animals (geophagy) to suppress nutritional deficiencies or to neutralize toxic compounds (Gilardi et al, 1999; Coelho, 2016)
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